A warmed over jobs message

4:41 PM,
Jul. 24, 2013

Dana Milbank

Written by

Dana Milbank

"I don't normally do this," President Obama's senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer wrote in the subject line of an email blast to reporters Sunday night.

This was tantalizing. What would this top White House official be doing? Singing karaoke on the North Lawn? Getting a "POTUS" tattoo on his arm?

Reality was rather more prosaic. Pfeiffer was announcing the rollout of a series of economic speeches Obama would begin on Wednesday - roughly the 10th time the White House has made such a pivot to refocus on jobs and growth. What would set this one apart is that Obama is reprising a speech he made eight years ago, ...